


Return To Earth

by orphan_account



Category: Transformers, Transformers Bayverse - Fandom, Transformers:Prime
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-04-23 12:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14332461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The earth has changed. Radiation and evolution has caused the population of earth to mutate and develop new abilities. The human genome has changed and after a thousand years of change, the transformers have returned! Although something is very different.The year is 3018 and Cada Lani has heard of the transformers, in history books! Much like everyone else, she has never seen one as they were exiled from earth around 900 years ago. The human allies are known as well, of course but they all died as humans are notoriously short lived.Goody two shoes Cada Lani will go on the adventure of a life time when she sneaks out one night after seeing five asteriods land close to her school and meets her heroes (but she doesn't know it's them till later).Can little Cada Lani help her heroes while navigating through the problematic tasks of being a teenager, like falling in love? Can she survive the twists and turns and reveals.... Also the government hunting her and the Transfomers down, yeah that too.*Jazz never died so cannon divergence from the movie verse*





	1. Part One

After ten minutes of walking through the forest, trying to avoid tripping over vines and rocks, Cada came across what she was looking for.

Destroyed trees and scorch marks on the ground indicated that she was heading in the right direction. Choosing to walk through the crushed debris, Cada soon came across deep gouges in the ground, tracks of where the asteroids had skidded across the forest floor. Following these gouges led her directly to what she was looking for. 

Five smoking lumps greeted Cada once she shone her torch beam over the area where the asteroids had come to a stop. Cada slowly approached the lumps, going to the closest. They let off no heat despite the steam that raised off of them. Slowly sticking her hand closer, Cada listened for anything that seemed irregular other than that she was about to touch some weird steaming space rock. Her fingers grazed the asteroid without being burnt which immensely confused Cada. She noticed her fingers covered in dirt once she retracted them. Cada raised her hand to the asteroid again and wiped the first away. 

Underneath the dirt, a greyish metal shone in the torchlight. Determined to find out what this strange object was, Cada stood back and slowly rose her hands toward the first asteroid. Releasing a breath, Cada allowed the tingling in her fingers to slowly spread out from her hands and toward the asteroid. The dirt began to fall away to the ground, exposing more of the grey metal. Once the last of the dirt fell away, Cada stared in shock at what was in front of her. A metal pod, about the size of an SUV vehicle sat ,on the ground, gleaming in the light of Cada’s torch. 

Cada stared in shock at the pod-like object. The strange grey metal was covered in some kind of writing. Getting a closer look didn't help Cada recognise the language. Contemplating what she found, Cada wondered what would happen if she uncovered the others. ‘Surely it couldn't be that bad, if it is I can always run the other way and hope for the best’. 

With her mind made up, Cada once again extended her hands, this time urging the tingle to spread toward the other four pods. The dirt again began to crumble away and fall to the ground, exposing the four other pods that looked exactly the same as the first one. 

Once she finished, Cada waited for something to happen. The forest was completely silent, not even a cricket chirped its song. Cada took a step back to find somewhere to sit, ready to wait for a little while longer when something happened. The pods began to click and rattle. A quiet ‘poof’ sound was followed by parts of the tops retracting, like lids opening. Once the process seemed to finish Cada approached the closest pod. She cautiously looked inside to see what was in it. She peeked over the edge, only to be met by glowing blue eyes.


	2. Part Two

Reeling backwards with a sharp screech, Cada fell onto her bottom before crab walking backwards away from the pod. Two dark skinned hands grabbed the edge of the pod followed by a head of dark hair and glowing blue eyes emerging over the side. “Those eyes are definitely not human” was the only coherent thought in Cadas mind, apart from ‘OH MY GOD, RUN YOU TWIT!’ The young male stared at Cada for a few seconds before pulling himself up out of the pod further. 

Cada's torch decided now was the time to stop shining, leaving Cada in the dark with someone she didn't know. Cada shuffled backwards quickly, bumping against a tree trunk. She could only stare as the young man’s glowing eyes got closer to her. His dark skin camouflaged him into the night that surrounded them. Cada smacked the edge of her torch against her hand to make it work again, only to shine it up and see the boy had stopped around 30 centimetres away. Cada screeched again and the boy clamped his hands over his ears, face contorting in pain. 

“Please,” he whispered “stop screaming, it is harming my audio's.” He opened his eyes and stared at Cada as she stared back at him, silent again. Her green eyes were wide open as she stared into his unwavering gaze. She noticed how close he was and raised her hand to his face and pushed it backwards so she could have some personal space. He flopped back onto his rear, not expecting her to push him away. 

“Who are you? Where did you come from? What is that pod thing you were in?” Cada fired off rapidly. She was undeniably spooked by what was happening. Some human-but-obviously-not-human looking guy just climbed out of some crashed asteroid and can speak English. Cada thought to herself in surprise, ‘Am I about to willingly ask as many questions as I want? You know what, I sure as hell am.’ The thought was conceived with a note of finality. 

The young man went to speak only to be interrupted by the same hissing sound that was made when the first pod opened. Cada looked over his shoulder to see the “lids” slowly slipping off the four other pods. She glanced back at the dark skinned guy and raised her eyebrow while stating, “Friends of yours, I presume.”

“Yes, they are my comrades” was all he said, seemingly distracted by the pods, as if waiting to see what, or more likely, who would emerge. 

A head of yellow-blonde hair emerged slowly, followed by a caramel coloured face and the same glowing blue coloured eyes looking around cautiously. Once those eerily coloured eyes landed on the first man, he perked up and climbed out of the pod, heading toward Cada and the cocoa skinned man.

As the new man opened her mouth she glanced down at Cada beside the cocoa male and gave Cada a curious once over. “Hello there, my name is Bumblebee. What is your name?”

Cada blinked at the man and his name. It was after a stretched moment of silence that Cada realised that the man- No, Bumblebee had asked her name. “My name is Cada” was all she could say. Honestly, Cada was still shell shocked by the fact that two not-quite-humans had emerged from the crashed asteroids. 

Bumblebee smiled at Cada and turned around to the crashed pod things and whistled a three note tune. Low, Low, High. After he finished his tune, three more heads popped out of the remaining pods. All looked to be male and closer to mid twenties if Cada had to guess. 

Cada turned her attention back to Bumblebee and the still nameless cocoa skinned guy. He appeared to notice her questioning gaze and immediately looked sheepish. “I am sorry, I have not yet introduced myself, my name is Jazz. It is a pleasure to meet you.” 

“Uh, yes. It's nice to meet you too?” was Cada’s meek reply. Jazz merely smiled at her reaction and turned to the tree new additions to the group. Cada decided to follow his lead and divert her attention to the new guys. 

The three new additions were varying shades of colour. One was pasty white, one appeared to be a beige colour and the other had caramel skin much like her own. 

The beige coloured man had onyx coloured hair that sat in a Royal style, combed backwards over his ears and head. He also had the same startling blue eyes as Jazz and Bumblebee, they all had those same glowing blue eyes. He stepped forward, slowly extending his hand out to Cada, offering her help off of the ground. Cada took his hand and stood up, and discovered that despite standing up this man still towered over her by a good 12 inches. She was 5’4 last time she checked and was sure she had not grown at all since then. “My name is Optimus Prime and I am the leader of this team. What is your name young one?” his voice had an incredibly deep tone, the tone of a powerful leader.

“My name is Cada” she repeated for the second time in the last 10 minutes. She immediately felt stupid and could not contain the blush that took over her face turning it splotchy and red. Optimus’s eyes widened as he took note of the redness in her face. 

“Are you ill Cada? Your face has turned an alarming shade of red” Optimus questioned with concern in his voice. Cada could only shake her head and squeak a negative response to his question. 

The male next to Optimus stepped forward to introduce himself when he was interrupted by a voice yelling Cada’s name. 

“CADA? WHERE ARE YOU? CADA!” 

It was the headmaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up with some feedback please.... Sorry about the short chapters, they will get longer soon hopefully.


	3. Part Three

Things seemed to slow down and sound muffled as Cada felt her heart leap into her throat. The headmaster was after her and she was currently standing next to five strangers who were not from the academy. This could not possibly go well.

Cada turned turned to Optimus, eyes wide and filled with apprehension and fear.  
“What are we going to do, the headmaster can't see you or these pod things-”  
“Shuttles, they are called shuttles” the palest, still unnamed man stated gently.  
“Whatever they're called they still can't be seen, and neither can you guys, oh man I'm so screwed” Cada rambled, her speech getting faster toward the end. She was panicking. 

The arrivals began to shiver, the air had become cold and was getting colder. Cada noticed her breath beginning to fog in the air around her. She took a deep breath and tried to relax a little. The air began to warm again. “Ok I have an idea. How good are you guys at following without being seen?” 

Bumblebee stepped forward looking Cada in the eye. “Our team is very adept at following and staying undetected,” he declared with an air of confidence. He was obviously very proud, if his tone was anything to go by.  
“Good, well then here's the plan. I will go meet the headmaster before he gets here. You five will follow along behind us and not get caught otherwise we are all screwed, understand?” Cada asked. 

The group all looked at Optimus, who stepped forward and nodded to Cada's plan. With the acceptance of her plan, Cada turned and fled toward where she could still here the headmaster calling her. She spied his torch beam cutting through the bush facing her direction. His torch beam swept toward her as she came crashing through the bush in his direction. 

“Cada, is that you?” He asked loudly. His torch beam stopped on Cada as she emerged from behind a branch, shielding her eyes from his light. Once he noticed who he was blinding, he lowered his torch and asked sternly “what are you doing out here this late at night, lights out was nearly an hour ago, you know that means, nobody is to have a light on, let alone be out of the dorm rooms.” 

“Well, you see, I was-uh going to bed but-um I had to leave my room cause I-um… My abilities were going whack. Like I was going to end up flooding the dorm you see. Um yes” Cada stammered out, trying to think of a slightly mollifying response. She smiled uneasily at the headmaster. 

He frowned at Cada's response, likely trying to see if she was telling him a lie. “You should have gone to the dorm nurse, you know not to leave the dorm without permission, especially at night. Rules are there for a reason. Are you alone out here?” He said with a disappointed tone. 

Before Cada could reply, a loud snap was heard in the dark night. Cada winced when the headmaster swivelled around and shouted “Who’s there?” 

Thinking fast, Cada replied “that was me, I accidentally caused the twig to snap see, I'm very anxious right now, you know anxiety and everything right” followed by a nervous chuckle. The headmaster eyed her and turned on his heel, beckoning her to follow. “We are going back to the academy, you are going to go to bed, then tomorrow you are going to meet with your dorm dean and explain to her why you were out here because I do not believe you at all and I am too tired to go digging through your head for why you are actually out here.” Cada shook her head and sarcastically thought to herself ‘thank the lord the headmaster is too tired to go digging tonight.’

“I heard that”

‘My bad’

***

-Twenty Minutes Later-

Cada flopped onto her bed, breathing out a heavy sigh. ‘Could that have been anymore embarrassing?’ 

Cada followed behind the headmaster with her head down as they trekked through the halls. Students popped their heads out of their doors, hearing the headmasters heavy footsteps, and yet not hearing him say to go back to bed, that nothing is happening. The students stared at Cada with mixtures of surprise and sympathy. Obviously surprised that it was her getting escorted back to her room by the headmaster and sympathy because getting escorted back to your room that late at night means there's going to be some kind of rumour going around. Great. 

Once they had approached the door of her room, the headmaster turned to Cada and said “remember, tomorrow morning at 9 you need to go see the dean Marina, and explain why you left.”  
“Yes sir” Cada said quietly, mortified that other students were hearing about this as they still had not gone back into their own rooms. 

The headmaster turned and started to walk away when he turned back and said to Cada with slight amusement in his voice “try not to sneak out again and remember, no guests are to be caught in the personal rooms after eleven pm.” He spun on his heel and walked down the hall, as students began to retreat to their rooms. Cada shook her head, confused about his last comment and opened her door, walking into her room and flopping onto her bed. 

Cada laid there and mourned her now gone anonymity within the school when she shot up sharply, remembering how Bumblebee and his team were supposed to be following her. She ran to her window, throwing it open and whispering loudly into the dark, “Bumblebee, Optimus? Are you guys there?” No sound greeted her, other than the crickets chirping. She squinted into the darkness again, whisper yelling the same words when she was cut off mid-sentence by Jazz’s head popping up from the darkness. Cada slapped a hand over her own mouth to muffle the scream that wanted to be let loose. “What the hell man! You couldn't have said ‘yeah we're here’, Jesus Christ” Cada hissed at Jazz. He widened his eyes, looking like the perfect picture of innocence, other than the smirk playing at the corner of his lips.  
“I apologise for causing you distress” Jazz said. His tone did not match the apology.  
“Just get in here” she directed, standing back from the window. 

Jazz climbed in first, followed by the beige man who had not yet been introduced tumbling through ungracefully. This caused a snicker to rise from Cada which she tried to disguise as a cough when he glared at her. The pale man who was also not introduced to her climbed through followed by Bumblebee, then finally Optimus. Once everyone was in, Cada closed the window and turned to the group who were looking at the things in her room. 

Cada clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. “Right, there are two of you whose names I don't know so if we could establish that before you guys tell me why you are here, that would be great.” The pale man stepped forward, his glowing blue eyes twinkling, “my name is Ratchet, and I am the medic for this team”. After stepping back, the caramel coloured man stepped forward and in a gruff voice with what appeared to be a slight British sounding accent and said “my name is Ironhide and I am the weapons specialist for this team.” 

Cada nodded at Ratchet and Ironhide then turned to address Optimus. “Would you all like to sit, I have a feeling that the explanation for your arrivals is going to be a long story” while gesturing at the bed and bean bags in her room. Optimus nodded his team proceeded to make themselves comfortable. 

‘Here we go’ thought Cada to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews??????


	4. Part Four

“Wait, your names,” Cada started “they're very… Unusual, as in they're names of other aliens I know of” she said accusingly. She stood from her spot on a green bean bag and crossed the room to her desk, where she was sure her history book was. The book wasn't like other history books, this one showed history's true colours, how the auto boys saved earth many times. It was written by one of the allies before she died and was passed down through her family until it reached Cada. Nobody knew she had this book, it would be confiscated if it was found. As she dug through the mess in the chest under her desk, “is that so, which aliens would these be then hmm” came from one of the newcomers in a smug tone. “Ha! Gotcha” Cada exclaimed as she rifled through the pages looking for a specific topic. She stopped at a page about halfway through the book. Turning the book around to show the group the picture, she said “these guys, they were called the Transformers. They were exiled around 900 years ago and coincidentally they all share the same names as you lot. Only difference is you guys look human, these guys don't.” She looked at Optimus, her gaze expectant. All eyes were glued to the page that Cada tapped her fingers on. “Well” she said, still waiting for an answer. 

Optimus stood from the end of her bed and approached her, eyes still glued on the page she was displaying. The picture looked hand painted. The great Optimus Prime stood at the centre, brandishing his large sword above his head, his battle mask in place but his eyes conveying his rallying cry with his loyal soldiers by his side. To his left stood the Weapons Specialist (if that didn't solidify Cada's unexplainable hunch, nothing would), Ironhide, his massive cannons glowing on his arms, the picture of intimidating. To Ironhides left stood Cheif Medical Officer Ratchet, his neon yellow paint bright and his retractable saw gleaming. The CMO stood with his back to Ironhides side, battle ready. To Optimus Primes right stood the Autobot Leaders First Liuetenant, Jazz. While he was significantly shorter than the Prime, he looked formidable with his blaster in one hand and his visor covering his optics. Crouched in front of the group on one knee with his arm cannon pointing toward an unknown enemy was the loyal scout, Bumblebee. His yellow paint was not as bright as Ratchets but his glowing canon and face mask gave him an edge due to not being able to see his optics, much like Jazz. The border of the picture looked like a wooden picture frame with carved swirls in it. 

Optimus flicked his eyes up to Cada's face and he opened his mouth before turning back to his comrades. They all stared at the picture with reverence before flocking their eyes back to Optimus. Jazz nodded to Optimus from his perch on Cada's yellow bean bag and shuffled around, as if settling in for a long story. Optimus turned to Cada and beckoned her to the bed. They sat side by side as Optimus gently took the book from Cada's hands. “The reason we share names with those in the picture is because we are them” he started with. Cada stared at him, raising one eyebrow as if to say ‘well this'll be good’. He huffed out a deep breath before starting, “Before time began, there was the cube. We know not where it came from, only that-”  
“Woah let me stop you there, I've read and heard this line so many times, it's not funny” Cada interrupted. She grabbed the book from his hands again and flicked through to the first page, where the story began. “Yeah, here look. Don't know where it comes from, only that it held the power to destroy worlds and create life. Some wanted it for good, others for evil” she read while skimming the page. “Prime really knew how to capture an audiences attention didn't he?” She mumbled. She glanced up at the silence that met her. All eyes were on her. “How did you get this book, where is it from, who wrote it?” Jazz fired off one question after the other. “This book was written and illustrated by my great, great, great, great, great great-” Cada began while counting her fingers as she said each great until she reached 16- “grandmother and her friends just after the Transformers were exiled. The story goes that the news that contained information on these guys was very negative so she and her friends got together and recounted stories about these guys to show how they saved the earth. This book has been passed down through my family for over 900 years until me and I am not about to have it taken from me so this book doesn't leave my room, understand?” She said while making eye contact with each person. “And as for who wrote it, well assuming you guys are thee's guys, I would say you all knew them pretty well. They were your human allies after all” Cada finished with an air of amusement. Bumblebee shot up to his feet, a hopeful expression on his face, “Sam? You're related to Sam Witwicky?” “Uh no, Mikaela Banes, she was the one who came up with the idea and she's the one who kept this copy of the book and passed it through the family. She used to tell other tales of what you guys used to do with Sam though Bee, those stories weren't in the book as it would've been too much, like the time you went through the car wash 13 times in one day. That story was one of my favourites as a kid” Cada finished with a smile. Bee sat down, though not disspaointed.

"You said ‘this copy’, that implies that there were other copies” Ratchet said, his tone curious. “Yes, there were four copies, the Witwickys, the Lennoxs, the Epps’ and mine, the Banes’. Each family was told to keep these books hidden, but I have no idea if the it hers still exist, I mean they could be anywhere, this one started out in the USA and now it's all the way around the world in New Zealand” Cada explained. “Now could you please explain how you guys went from giant metal titans to tiny little fleshies” Cada asked. Optimus cleared his throat, ran his hands through his hair- ‘and wow that is hot!’- Cada's eyes widened at the thought. ‘I am not going to have thoughts like this about an alien leader, I refuse!’ Optimus began his story, forcing Cada to focus incase she missed something important. “We received a transmission from Earth, from an ally of ours who said they were due to crash land on earth and had no way of stopping, when his message cut out part way through for unknown reasons. We followed his signal, thinking we could get here, find them and get off world before the human even knew abut us, but of course, when does the plan ever go off without a hitch” he said with a shake of his head. The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement while Cadadrifted in her thoughts again. Ratchet picked up the story from here, from his perch on Cada's black rug with Ironhide curled by his side. ‘I wonder if those two are bumping uglies? Wait, do alien robots actually bump uglies? Do they have uglies to bump? Why am I thinking about this’. Cada shook her head again and Ratchet continued. “As we entered the atmosphere, we encountered a strange wave of energy that caused our bodies to change into the forms we have now. We were still able to communicate while we plummeted through the sky but not once we crashed. My hypothesis is that the same thing has happened to the comrades we are trying to find, leaving them out there somewhere in the world, alone and most likely in trouble as they have never been to earth before and do not know what to do to take care of human bodies unlike ourselves” Ratchet finished gesturing at himself and the others. It was at this point that Cada realised their states of dress, they were only wrapped in brownish cloth wrapped around their bodies in various styles. She widened her eyes and shot up from her seat exclaiming “oh my gosh, you guys don't have clothes, you're naked under the… Cloth stuff” she finished lamely. ‘Hes naked under the cloth, keep your eyes above the collar, eyes above the collar… Oh my gosh I am such a perv’. Cada hated her mind at the moment. “This cloth will suffice until we find human clothes to fit in” Optimus reassured her. Cada spun around to analyse each member of the First Arrivals and their measurements. “You guys are lucky I am not a huge fan of overly frilly dresses and mini skirts” Cada mumbled as she walked to her drawers to find pants first. “Right you guys are gonna have to go commando, as I highly doubt you want to wear my underwear, so for Jazz and Bee I reckon my leggings would work, you guys are skinny little rakes” she said as she threw two pairs of black leggings in the direction of the two smallest of the Autobot group.  
As she rifled through her draws, looking for something for the it hers, Optimus stood and said “Cada, we really are fine, we do not need you to give your clothing for us, we can deal with what we have.” Cada spun around and locked eyes with the leader. ‘Wow, his eyes are the same colour as his optics in the painting, they're so nice…’ Shaking herself out of it (god they must think she's weird with all the head shaking she's doing) she addressed Optimus, “no it's fine, you guys can just borrow these and I'll go out tomorrow and get some clothes that will actually fit properly and be comfortable, no harm done.” Optimus shook his head and opened his mouth to argue when Cada's hand shot up and halted his words, “it will be fine, trust me” and with that she turned away, to find clothes for the rest if the group. Behind Optimus, Jazz and Bee shared a look, nobody had really ever been able to assert themselves like Cada had except their old friend Mikaela Banes. Taking a closer look, Jazz noticed that Cada had a very similar face shape and hair colour to Mikaela, the only real noticeable differences were the accent, the voice, the height and the eye colour, which were a startling shade of dark green. Jazz felt a pang of sadness at seeing someone so similar to his now-deceased best friend and this new ally, well he hoped she would prove to be a good ally. Humans had such short lives, but those lives were jam packed with emotion and compassion in some beyond anything Jazz had seen from other organic races. Extracting himself from a hole that would only lead to more depressing thoughts, the sabatouer unfolded the pants the girl had thrown at him. The black arterial was stretchy and felt like they would very comfortable. As he stood to take off his cloth wrapping around his waist and between his legs, Cada stopped him with an abrupt “wait!”. He froze and looked at Cada with an arched brow. With wide eyes she explained that he and Bumbkebee were gonna need underwear because the leggings would be very constricting. Jazz didn't understand what the problem was. “Just wait, I have something else for you two to try” she said before spinning back to her open drawers and rummaged through before spinning around with a victorious cry. In her hand she held two pairs of shorts, one pair green and the other red. “Green or red?” She asked grinning at him. “I'll take the red ones” Jazz said and reached for the red ones as she threw them. These shorts were much looser than the leggings were but were a nice soft material. Shrugging at each other, Jazz and Bumbkebee put the shorts on. 

After tossing the shorts to Jazz and Bee, Cada turned to Ironhide and Ratchet. Ratchet was much more lithe in his legs than Ironhide who was built like a brick wall all over. There was no way he would fit her clothes, not even her baggiest sweatpants. She tapped her fingers on one arm while she racked her brain for what she could do. Perking up, she spun back to her drawers and turned around before holding out a pair of sweatpants for Ratchet to try. “Try to loosen the drawstring if they're too small” she explained while he took the grey sweatpants. “Are you calling me fat?” He asked bluntly. Cada blinked in shock while trying to process the question. Her mouth gaped for a few seconds before Ratchet grinned at her and Ironhide said “He's just kidding”. Cada just nodded and gave a weak smile. She thought she had offended her one of her heroes and it left her a little rattled. She desperately wanted to leave a good impression these guys, they were the stars of the stories she grew up on. 

 

-10 years ago-  
“Ma, Ma read to me please, tell me about Opt’mus Prime please, please, please!” A small dark haired child holding a large brown book begged her mother. Brushing her curls out of her eyes, she smiled up at her mother. “My Cada, of course I will read to you” the girls mother smiled down at her child before taking the book and hefting her child into her knee. As Cada settled onto her mothers knee, she opened the book to the last story they had read. “Now where were we last time, my little munchkin” Lina Mahi cooed to her child. “No Ma, I'm an autobot not a munchkin” Cada reprimanded her mother, as well as a seven year old child could reprimand anyway. She was very serious, didn't her mother understand that? “Oh of course, my love I am very sorry. My little autobot” Lina smiled apologetically at her. Satisfied with her mothers apology, Cada turned around and snuggled into her mothers side stating “we were up to where Opt’mus was talking to Nanny Kaela and Sam for the first time ever.” “Honey, I'm sure we were past that already, weren't we?” Lina questioned with a secretive smile, knowing how Cada loved to repeat this part of the story often, it was her favourite part after all. “Yes Mama but it's the bestest bit” Cada insisted. “Ok, ok, ‘The flamed peterbilt truck stopped less than a metre away from us. Sam and I waited in anticipation for what would happen. The truck split apart starting with the grill folding away and the nose of the truck splitting in half, folding away and rising to a metal man who stood over 20 feet tall. He bent down onto one knee, moving his face in very close to Sam and I and said-” “are you Sam Witkicky, decasdent of Arciblad Witkicky!” Cada said in time with her mother. Lina stifled her laugh at her daughters mispronunciation and said gently, “baby, it's de-scen-dant, Arch-I-bald, and Wit-wicky, OK?”  
“That's what I said.”

 

-Present Time- 

Cada came out her memory, only to notice that everyone was staring at her in confusion. “Sorry, did someone say something” she asked. “No, I merely wondered why you were not responding when I called your name” Optimus explained. “Oh sorry, I was… Remembering something, doesn't matter. Anyway I don't think I have anything that will fit you and Ironhide, you guys are a lot more muscular than I am” Cada responded. She thought hard about what she could do. What could she do! She didn't own male clothing, how was she supposed to find clothes- “Jamison!” She exclaimed. She turned on her heel and headed for the door. “Stay here” she said and closed the door.  
The autobots looked at each other and waited for Cada to come back.  
***

Cada tip-toed down the hallway, trying to be as quiet as possible. She approached a door and counted to three before knocking quietly, hoping this was the right room. There was silence before she knocked again. This time she heard a shuffling noise from inside the from before the door opened cautiously. 

Jamison looked out the door to see Cada standing there, fidgeting like she was incredibly uncomfortable. “Cada? What are you doing here at-” he checked his watch on his wrist “1:30 in the morning, not sure about you but people sleep when it's dark” Jamison said. “Hey, look I need a favour, I need to borrow two pairs-” Cada started when she was cut off by a girl popping her head over Jamisons shoulder and saying “James, what's happening? Oh, hey Cada, what's up?” “Oh, Katy, go back to sleep, I'll be there in a minute, Cada just had a question” Jamison whispered. “Uh hey Katy, just asking Jamison a favour” Cada said uncomfortably. “As people do at 1:30 in the morning right?” Katy said with a small smile on her face. Katy always wondered why Cada never talked to anybody. She didn't dislike the girl, she was just curious as to why she was asking her boyfriend a favour at 1:30 in the morning. “Um yes? Right, well Jamison I was wondering if I could borrow two pairs of your loosest pants” Cada asked, wincing internally at how dodgy the question sounded. Katy raised an eyebrow while Jamison asked why and would he get them back. “Well you've got someone in your room when you aren't meant to and I may or may not be in a similar situation… Well maybe not too similar and you will get them back, I promise” Cada explained. “You have someone in your room… Is it a guy?” Katy asked excitedly. “Are the details really nessesceary right now….” Cada trailed off as Katy nodded excitedly slipping around her boyfriends to grab Cada's arm and drag her back to room, remembering to say over her shoulder “bring two pairs of your sweats babe.” 

Cada eyes widened in panic as she was dragged back down the hall. She could not let Katy into her room. The freaking autobots were half naked in there. ‘I am so fucked, and not in the good way’ she thought to herself. She tried to pull her arm out of Katy's grasp and Katy just turned to Cada and said “look we can do this the easy way or the hard way, I have super strength and I will carry you down the hall if I have to. As your new best friend it's my obligation to check this stuff out ok? Good, glad we reached a mutual agreement” and continued to pull a slack jawed Cada down the hallway. ‘Best friend, more like nosey teenager’ Cada thought miserably but surrendered to Katy's tugs as she would really not have liked to have her shoulder dislocated by Katy's super strength. 

Throwing open Cada's door, Katy pulled Cada through the doorway followed by a huffing Jamison who ran to catch up with the girls. Shutting the door behind him, Jamison turned to see a very… interesting sight. His girlfriend stood, gaping at the five shirtless guys in the room, who were staring wide eyed back at the three who just came through the door. His gaze flicked to Cada who was standing there shaking her head with her hands covering her eyes. The blonde guy who looked about the same age as himself snapped a large leather book shut and stood up. ‘Was he wearing girls green shorts’. “Cada, who are your friends” he asked very carefully. 

Cada looked up from where she was cursing her life into her hands at Bees question and floundered for a few seconds. ‘What the hell am I supposed to do, I am useless under pressure’. Katy took the opportunity to swoop in and offer hand while saying “hi, I'm Katy, Jamisons girlfriend and Cada's best friend. I didn't know she was having ‘friends’ over” her smile was all predatory while Bee cautiously shook her hand. “I'm uh- Brent, I'm a friend of Cada's from her childhood” Bee said and winced when Katy grasped his hand a little too tightly for comfort. “Um how about we uh stop touching each other hmm? Sounds like a good idea to me, a fantastic idea I think” Cada babbled as she stepped between Katy and Bee. “I'm just making sure that these guys are legit before they get to close to my little Cada” Katy said with a sugar sweet voice. Her southern American accent gave her voice that southern belle, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth lilt that was far to innocent to be actually in coconut. Jamison grabbed Katy's hand and pulled her into his side. “Ok, babe that's enough, I'm sure Cada knows exactly what she's doing with these guys, though I do understand why you needed the pants now” Jamison said as he eyed the tall guy and the heavily muscled dude who both had nothing but cloth covering their unmentionables. “Right, cool, cool, cool, time for you guys to go I think, these guys are pretty wiped out from their trip here and I'm absolutely knackered so you guys have a good night now,” Cada said as she nudged Katy and Jamison to the door “I mean six is a party but eight is a crowd right?” She finished as she opened the door. “I love parties” Katy said, putting emphasis on the word parties with her accent, making it sound vaguely dirty. Cada just gave her a stern look and Katy deflated with a defeated smile and said “ooh feisty look, yes ma'am, Jamison and I will return to his room and bother you no more.” “Good night and thank you guys” was all Cada relied with as she shut the door. 

She turned back to the autobots and shook her head before handing the sweatpants to Optimus and Ironhide that Jamison and left on her desk as he walked out. “You guys get changed and I'll sort blankets and we can go to bed, cause I am honestly so tired” Cada muttered before funding around and looking for blankets in her wardrobe and under her bed. She emerged with three blankets and realising that ther were five people. “I only have three blankets and no mattresses… Do you guys mind sharing, I mean, two of you could jump into my bed, I'll take the arm chair with a blanket, and that leaves three bean bags and two blankets so two of you will have to share down here too” Cada asked the room, looking at Optimus for an idea of what to do. He looked at her and the rest of the room, mulling over Cada's words before he realised what she had said. “You will not sleep in the chair, this is your bed, you will sleep here” he said with a crease in his brows. ‘God he still looks hot when he's frowning- NO STOP’. “But there's not enough room for all of us, and your my guests I suppose” Cada said with a small frown. Prime tried to disagree but Cada was having none of it. In the end, Cada and Bee ended up sleeping on the bed with Jazz asleep at the other end of the bed, his head by their feet and his feet by their heads. Explaining the concept of top and tailing to the autobots was frustrating to say the least. Ironhide and Ratchet ended up sharing a bean bag and blanket and prime on the other bean bag with the last blanket. Both beanbags were on the ther side of the bed, incase anyone came in later on in the day. But then again they would see Jazz and Bee in her bed so what was the point in worrying. Cada set her alarm for 9 in the morning so she could go to the dorm dean and sort out the incident in the forest and be up early enough to get a town pass to go get clothes for her guests. She settled down under her blanket and faced away from Bee, finally succumbing to the fatigue that dragged her under.


	5. Part 5

Cada came to consciousness slowly, keeping her eyes shut and scrunching her nose in disgust at the early hour. She finally opened her eyes and looked at her alarm clock. She still had a whole hour before she had to wake up and get ready to see the dean. Sitting up slowly she looked around her room at the autobots sprawled in various positions. Bee was lying on his back, mouth wide open, and his arms tucked under his head and pillow. Jazz was on his stomach with both his arms under his pillow, dead to the world. Leaning over Bee over slightly she saw Ratchet and Ironhide spooning on the bean bag. Ironhide was the big spoon with Ratchet tucked securely into his chest. ‘How adorable’ Cada thought to herself. She looked over to Optimus only to see that he was lying with one hand tucked under his head, one on his chest and eyes open.  
He looked in Cada's direction when he heard her begin to move. His eyes tracked her body when she rose her arms above her head and stretched her muscles out. His eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline when he heard her back, elbows and shoulders clicking. Cada sighed in relief and shook her arms out before looking at Prime placidly. Turning away, Cada rose from the bed and began to gather clothes before turning to Optimus and saying “I'm going to go have a shower.” He nodded at her before laying back down and closing his eyes.  
After Cada came out of the bathroom, she noticed that Optimus had gone to sleep and Ironhide was now awake. He looked at her black leggings and white button up shirt with confusion. “Are you going to see somebody who holds high authority?” He asked quietly. “Well kind of, I'm going to see the dean about last night, just to say that I snuck out and got caught. I'm just going to say that I was anxious and needed to get some space, hopefully that works, good thing she's not able to read minds like the head master” Cada replied. Slipping on her black flats and grabbing her black backpack, she opened the door, and turned back to Ironhide. “Don't let anyone leave the room, don't open the door for anybody, you guys can use my bathroom, and I'll bring back some food for everyone” she said. “Understood” he replied with a nod. Cada closed the door and walked down the hall to the deans office.  
***  
Cada was glad she had gone to the Dean's office early. She arrived into the cafeteria to find it almost abandoned. The only occupied table was in the far back where a small group of people ate with blank stares. Turning to the bench, she looked over what her options were. Saturday's always had the best breakfast if you were early enough. Picking up a bright green tray, Cada walked down the length of the bench, selecting an assortment of things like bananas, apples, and a bowl of berries. Looking around to make sure nobody was looking at her, Cada then stuffed six Up And Go milk cartons in her bag and six single serve cereal boxes. Zipping up her bag, Cada tuned and walked casually out of the cafeteria, waving at the lunch lady as she entered the room.  
Once out of eyesight, Cada sprinted up to her room, feeling tempted to use her abilities to skate down the halls on ice just to go that little bit faster. She was running so fast that she didn't notice that anyone else was coming around the corner. It was only the other girls quick flying that saved them from a collision that would've thrown berries and fruit everywhere. Cada turned to apologise when the girl spat angrily “watch where you're going next time.” The girls black hair seemed to hover around her shoulders and her dusty pink wings were fluttering angrily behind her. Cada nodded and took off again. She slammed her door open and threw it closed behind her. Looking up, she saw the autobots staring at her in various states of confusion. “Are you okay? You're breathing rather heavily and your face is very red” Rathchet commented from his position between Ironhides legs, back to his chest. “No, I'm ok, I just ran most of the way” Cada replied dropping her bag on her bed next to Jazz. She placed the tray of fruit on the bed gently, next to her bag. “I got breakfast while I was out. There's a couple bananas and apples and enough berries for everyone. I also got some vanilla flavoured milk and some cereal. The cereal we will have to eat dry though cause I don't have any bowls. Good things it's cocoa pops” Cada explained while removing the milk and cereal from her bag. The autobots rose from their positions and converged on the food. It seemed they were starving. Cada grabbed an Up And Go and a banana, and chose to stand back while everyone else ate. Leaning against the bookshelf, Cada thought about what she had to do today.  
The autobots needed clothes. They currently wore her shorts and Jamisons sweatpants. Nobody had a shirt on. ‘Does Optimus really need a shirt-NO!’ That was a problem that she needed to solve. The shirts and her pervy thoughts, that is. Thinking hard about what she had, she realised she could give Jazz her batman jumper as he was the smallest. Two of her baggiest shirts would work for Optimus and Ratchet, and her black singlet would work for Bee. Ironhide would be a problem to find something for. His broad chest and massive biceps wouldn't fit any of her regular clothes, despite the fact that Cada was rather busty. Turning to her wardrobe, she looked through assorted hanging clothes for her puffer jacket. It was way too big for her, maybe tight but not too tight for Ironhide. She draped the jacket over her arm, and collected the sorts for the others from her drawers. She turned around to see how the group was doing with their food only to find them staring at her expectantly. “Ok, so we are going into town today to get some proper clothes for you guys and then tonight we will come back here and plan a way for you to find your friends and hopefully get you back to normal” Cada said, looking to Optimus. He merely nodded at her before turning to the autobots and announcing “Alright, autobots, let's roll.” Cada grinned. She'd always wanted to hear that in person.  
***  
Obtaining bus tickets into town wasn't as hard as Cada thought it would be. Trying to get five curious aliens to walk down the mall while remaining by her side was harder than she thought it would be. Bee and Jazz wanted to touch everything, Ironhide frowned at everything, looking as menacing as possible. Cada honestly thought he was doing it on purpose. Ratchet bitched about how unsanitary it was to be walking around without any shoes on and Optimus just stayed by her side, like a silent sentinel, with his eyes darting around, as if assessing for danger constantly. Cada couldn't really blame him, especially after how the cybertronians were treated last time they were on earth. Cada darted forward and grabbed Jazz and Bee’s hands and dragged them back to the group. “Ok team, here's the plan. We are going to go into the Kmart and buy clothes and shoes. Then depending on how we are going for time, we will get some lunch and from there we will just go with the flow. Our bus back to the school isn't until 5 tonight” Cada explained. The group nodded and Cada lead them into the Kmart. Before she could warn anyone not to take off because they'd get lost, Bee and Jazz disappeared in the direction of the shoes. Shaking her head, Cada grabbed Optimus and Ratchets (who was holding onto Ironhide) hands and dragged them after the two young males. Once she had gathered everyone she directed them to the clothes and told them to stay within the male clothing area of the store. All but one of the autobots fanned out and went to find some clothes. Optimus remained by Cada's side. She turned to Optimus asking “what's up? Need help choosing some clothes?” He nodded at her and Cada took a moment to think about what would suit him best. Cada spied several pairs of jeans and tuned to Optimus to ask which colours he would like. They needed up with two black pairs, a navy blue pair, and a light blue pair. Everything seemed to be going fine until Cada felt Optimus tense at her side and step impossibly closer while they were browsing shirts. Cada looked up to see a policewoman in her uniform talking to an employee. Cada looked up to Optimus to see him staring down at her with wide eyes. She slowly slipped her hand into his and he squeezed it gratefully.  
The policewoman looked in their direction and started to approach them. Cada stepped forward to address the officer when she felt Optimus basically attach to her side like a limpet. “Is everything ok here?” Officer Topps asked looking at Cada before turning her gaze to Optimus. Cada squeezed Optimus’ hand before replying “yes ma'am, everything's fine.”  
Officer Topps looked at how close the man was standing to the girl and felt a stir of protective instinct flare. “Do you know this man” she asked the young girl. The girl smiled and replied “yes, officer, he's a friend from primary school, he just recently got out of an abusive family so please forgive his skittish tendencies. He doesn't deal with strangers very well” The officer looked between the two again, noting how he was pretty much breathing down her neck and felt a bit of relief at this young girl helping others in her community. “Well then, I am sorry for frightening you young man, you two have a good day now” she said before walking away.  
Cada sighed in relief once the officer had left and looked up to Optimus again. His eyes stared at the corner the officer had gone around, and his grip on her hand was very tight. Cada placed a hand on his chest and quietly called his name. He looked into eyes and nodded at her silent question his wellbeing. He slowly let her hand go and stood back from her. They tuned around to face the shirts again and Cada tried to get Optimus’ mind off what ever was bringing his mood down. Optimus chose a few cotton t-shirts, a few long sleeves and at Cada's insistence, two plaid shirts, a thick one for colder weather and a thinner one for a simple cover up. Cada and Optimus walked down the aisles, grabbing socks and underwear for everyone before finding the rest of the group at the shoes rack. Jazz had chosen two pairs of black high tops, Bee seemed to be choosing between a pair of green sneakers and a pair of black sneakers. Cada told him to get both pairs if he wanted them. Ratchet held a pair of sturdy brown boots and a pair of neon yellow sneakers, while Ironhide held two pairs of black boots. Cada looked to Ootimus and gestured at him to choose some shoes.  
While Optimus chose some shoes, Cada checked to see if everyone had what they needed as well as what they wanted. Jazz and Bee seemed to gravitate toward the graphic t-shirts and skinny jeans while Ironhide and Ratchet went with more plain tees and long sleeves and straight cut jeans. Cada noted how nobody had chosen sweatpants or pajamas so she made a mental note to help them find some. Cada felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Optimus presenting her with his choice in shoes. He had chosen a pair of black boots that would be good for walking and a pair of regular red sneakers. The shade of red looked like the shade he had on his alt mode that she'd seen in pictures from various sources, like her history book and her school text books. Cada smiled gently and took the shoes, putting them in the basket.  
Cada took the group over to the pajamas and set them loose. Bumblebee chose a set that had a pair of yellow pants and a black t-shirt. Jazz chose a set with black pants and a black t-shirt with a picture of police sirens on it. Ratchet chose a set of flannel material pajamas with different tools on the pants. Ironhide chose a pair of sweatpants with a t-shirt that had an array of weaponry on it. Cada smirked at him as he placed them in his basket, causing him to grin wryly at her in return. Optimus chose a set with red flames on the hem of the blue shirt and a pair of black pants. Cada made sure to grab an extra set for everyone.  
After grabbing other necessity items such as shampoos, soaps and for some reason Bee and Ratchet wanted a bath bomb each, Cada herded the, to the counter. She froze in the middle of the aisle as something caught her eye. Grabbing Optimus’ arm, she dragged him over to the mannequin wearing a black cowboy hat. She grabbed it off the mannequins head and placed it on Optimus before turning him to look in the mirror. “Well, hello there cowboy” she said in a teasing tone as he tore his eyes between her and the reflection of the hat on his head in the mirror. He seemed to stare for quite a while when a thought slammed in to Cada like a train. ‘This is probably the first time he's ever seen himself in this form’. “Do you like it?” She asked gently. Optimus seemed to physically shake himself from his thoughts and turned to Cada before smiling slightly and tipping the hat on his head.  
They brought the hat.  
***  
Cada would thank the lord for her mother everyday (despite the fact that she wasn't particularly religious) if she could suddenly inherit her mothers unwavering patience. After the group had hit the Kmart, Bee asked about food. This lead to Jazz shooting Bee a grin that was pure mischievousness before starting to chant quietly, “McDonalds, McDonalds, McDonalds” over and over, progressively getting louder. Bee and Ironhide decided to join him despite the blank stares that Ratchet and Optimus gave them. As they got louder, Cada felt her mortification rising with their voices. “Ok, ok, shhhh, stop, we'll get McDonalds, just stop, oh my god” she hissed. All three of them cut the chant mid-word and grinned at her, trying to be the picture of innocence. It wasn't working. Cada spun on her heel, ignoring the looks the group was shit by passing shoppers and directed the group toward the food court.  
Once she had paid for everyone's orders (her bank account would be feeling the burn after today) and collected the food, Cada directed them to a table at the back of the room. Cada flopped into a chair with a sigh, only to feel a tap on her shoulder. Bee was dancing around behind her with his face scrunched up. “What's the matter, whys your face like that” she asked him. “Hey! My face is fine. Where are the bathrooms?” he asked her. Cada eyes widened, and she stood abruptly, told the it hers nit to move unless they had to go to the bathroom as well and ended up only directing Bee to the bathrooms. He gave her a puzzled look when she stopped before the men's door and gestured at him to go in alone. “I'm not going into the men's bathroom with you, I'm not a guy so you have fun now. I'll be here when you get out” She said, waving him in.  
A few minutes later he emerged looking far more comfortable. Once they sat down and ate, Cada explained her plan for the rest of the day. “After this, we will go out to the park down the road, and we will use the public bathrooms for you guys to get changed. You can out your socks and shoes on now so you don't have to walk around barefoot anymore.” Ratchet nodded in approval. Once the group had shoes on, Cada led them out of the mall, heading toward the park. Cada sat in the bench with all of the bags around her feet while the guys took turns getting changed.  
Bee came out first, modelling” his outfit for her with a grin and a blown kiss from his “catwalk”. He wore a pair of yellow jeans, his black sneakers, and a white button up shirt with the collar folded down. She applauded him with a smile and a cheer. Jazz was next, sauntering out ridiculously and giving her a spin with one had propped on his hip. He wore his black high tops, a pair of blue jeans and a tight black t-shirt. His grin was wide and his blue eyes shining. Cada clapped her hands for him and blew him a kiss which he “caught” and clutched to his chest. Ratchet and Ironhide came out together, just standing in front of Cada without the thearatics of the previous two. Cada grinned and looped her finger in the air, telling them to “give her a spin”. Both men slowly turned with their arms out from their sides, grinning at her. Ironhide wore a pair of his black boots, some black jeans and a light blue long sleeve. Ratchet wore a pair of neon yellow sneakers, his black jeans, and a white t-shirt. She wolf whistled at them, causing Hide to pull Ratchet into his side with a fake growl of possessiveness. Ratchet shook his head the two of them before sitting next to Cada. Optimus was the last to get changed. Everyone went quiet when he came out of the bathroom. He wore his red sneakers, his navy blue jeans, a black t-shirt with his thin blue flannel shirt unbuttoned over the top. “There's only one thing missing” Cada said once she snapped out of her stupor. Grabbing his cowboy hat, she placed it on his head and stepped back. Optimus straightened up and adjusted the hat. He held his arms out and spun slowly, before grinning at the group and saying, “what do you think?” Jazz let out a low whistle before grinning at him, “looking good OP” he replied cheekily. The rest of the guys replied with similar statements while Cada stood there, dumbfounded by his grin. He was showing teeth. Optimus looked into Cada's eyes and seemed to be searching for something. Before he could say anything else, she grinned back and said “you look great.” It was the only thing she could say without sounding like an absolute idiot.  
Ironhide looked between Prime and Cada, noticing his grin and her stupified look before it melted into a smile of her own. He had noticed how they interacted and he wasn't sure if it was good. Don't get him wrong, he liked Cada. She was funny, kind and smart, all very good qualities but they were going to leave. Their kind was not allowed on earth, and once they had found Prowls team and got back to normal, the cybertronians would leave. Ironhide didn't want to see the Prime or Cada hurt. He would not stop them if they tried to work something out, it was not his place. Maybe time would tell. Maybe things would work out. Ironhide hoped so, Prime deserved to smile like that all the time.  
***  
Before the group got on the bus, Cada made sure to stop and get some food for back at the school. She brought mostly packaged stuff, so it could be stored in her room and would get other things like fruit and vegetables at morning and night. She grabbed a few treats for the group as well. She assumed that they hadn't tried chocolate before, which was an absolute travesty, one she could fix. On the ride back to the school Cada noticed that Bee had fallen asleep on Jazz’s shoulder and Ironhide wasn't far off doing the same thing to Ratchet. She made sure everyone was awake once they reached their stop and they all got off the bus with hands full of bags. Sneaking the guys back into the school was going to be the hard part. Very one was around now, dinner would be served soon.  
Cada had the group loop around thought the back of the school as she used her abilities to get the trees and shrubs to provide enough cover for them to sneak behind. Once everyone had climbed back in through her window- ‘I really should start locking that’ she thought absently- Cada dumped her bags on the floor by the bed. Bee and Jazz looked absolutely exhausted as the flopped onto her bed, both face down. Cada shook her head at them, amused at their antics and turned on some quiet music. She put away the food in a crate under her bed and turned to see all of the autobots had fallen asleep in different positions. Cada left them suit going and decided to walk out of her room to go get food for herself and the autobots.  
As she walked down the hall, she felt her neck prickle. Someone was watching her. She hurried her lace and turned the corner, waiting to see if anyone came around it behind her. She didn't have to wait long to get her answer. After about 10 seconds, Katy tried to sneak around the corner before realising that Cada was standing on the hallway, arms crossed over chest. “Stalking? What a cute hobby” Cada deadpanned. Katy smiled at Cada, throwing her blonde tresses over her shoulder and approaching her. “Sorry Mom, anyway, where have you been today girly” she drawled. Cada sighed at Katy and her ridiculous emphasis on her pronunciation of mum with her southern drawl. “Out, had things to do today in town” she replied. Katy's grin sharpened. “How are your friends? Are they still here” she purred. “Don't you have a boyfriend?” Cada asked. “Oh I'm not interested for that, Jamison is plenty for me. I'm curious about your relationship with the, cause I don't judge sweetie. Whatever you're into is your business” Katy replied suddenly sincere and sweet. Cada frowned at the complete 180 in Katy's tones before blurting out “I'm not in a relationship with any of them, they're my friends. That's it.” Katy smiled a Cheshire grin before saying “they're still here aren't they? Don't worry, I won't tell… If you let Jamison and I hang out with you guys tonight.” Cada blinked in disbelief before nodding. She couldn't risk the autobots being caught. They still had to plan. “Come around at 9” she said. That would give them a couple of hours to eat dinner and plan. “Great, well I'm going to get dinner for Jamison and I, walk with me?” Katy asked before looping her arm with Cada's. “I've got to get dinner too, for myself and the-my friends” Cada stuttered out, internally strangling herself for nearly saying the autobots. “Well, I'll help you then, cause I've got super strength an it looks less weird if we both get extra food rather than just one of us” Katy replied. “Um thank you” Cada said in a disbelieving tone. Katy just smiled in reply.  
They walked in silence until they reached the cafeteria, where they piled their trays with food, grinning at each other while others stared on in confusion. Cada made eye contact with the girl she nearly crashed into earlier and gave a small smile. The girl scrunched her face up before smiling back shyly. Cada smiled more and looked away when Katy called her name. “Cada? You ready to go?” She asked. “Yeah, I'm ready” Cada replied. The girl waved at cada before she walked out the door and Cada waved back.  
Once they got out into the hallway, Katy turned to Cada and asked, “do you know her?” Cada shook her head and explained the incident from that morning. Katy smiled at Cada before saying, “you are absolutely hopeless.” Cada grinned before replying, “thank you! I really do try.”  
Once they had reached Cada's door, Katy gave Cada the food for the guys and told Cada she’d see her at 9. Once Katy had turned the corner to go to Jamisons room, Cada entered her own room to find all the autobots awake and going through her stuff. Jazz and bee had their backs to the door, the ther three sitting in front of them. Optimus was reading through one of her books and Ratchet and Ironhide were grinning at Jazz and Bee. The sight of Jazz wearing one of her bras on his chest and Bee wearing one on his head caused Cada to put her foot down, literally. The temperature of the room dropped considerably when Cada stomped her foot on the floor. “What the hell are you doing” Cada hissed, her voice colder than the room which had frost beginning to creep up the windows. Jazz and Bee swung around, eyes wide and mouths gaping. Ratchet and Ironhide continued to grin, while Optimus looked up from the boo at her stomp and the lowered temperature. “Well, explain yourselves” she barked at them, placing the tray of food on the desk beside the door. Bee pulled the black bra off his head quickly and pushed it into Jazz’s chest while saying “it's all his fault, he saw them in your basket and was saying how he wanted to try one one and-” Jazz stood there with a betrayed look on his face at how quickly Bee gave in before interrupting Bee with “-Bee wanted to try it too, I didn't make him!” This was ab lushly the wrong thing to say as the rooms temperature dropped even further, causing everyines breaths to fog in the air around them. “I do not care who's idea it was, I want you to take them off right now and put them neatly back into my basket” Cada said slowly with a frosty tone. Both males nodded and removed her bras and placed them into her basket, just like they were asked, well more like ordered to. Once they did this, Cada took a deep breath and the room began to beat up again. She noticed how everyone was shivering and she widened her eyes, shaking her head. “Oh god, I'm so sorry. Here let me heat you guys up” she said while heating the room up to try and stop the autobots shivering.  
Optimus stood from the bed and approached Cada slowly. He placed his hands on her shoulders, causing her to look up into his face. “I'm sorry for not stopping them from getting into your personal belongings, I was very deep into the book, I apologise” he said, his gaze not wavering from hers. This motivated Jazz and Bee to also apologise for getting into her things. Cada shook her head and smiled at them, telling them she forgave them but not to go through stuff without permission again. Cada used her powers to heat up their food and they all settled in to eat before they started to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok we are slowly getting to the good stuff. And I think the chapters are getting longer, hopefully you'll are still enjoying it :)


	6. Part Six

“In three days the school will be hosting the annual Paihia Easter Parade. The whole school will participate in the festivities, or if Christianity isn't your thing, you stay in the school hall and participate in other activities. This means that practically the entire school will be out in the town, celebrating at the parade,” Cada explained as the group sat in a cluster on her bed, “leaving us with the most opportune moment to blow this popsicle stand” she finished, looking at the group. 

“When you say ‘we’, do you mean you as well?” Bee asked Cada. “Well, yes. I've been waiting to ditch this place since I came to live here four years ago, so helping you guys is the best chance I'll have for a long time…” Cada trailed off, lost in the dark memories of why she was sent to this school. 

“Is this Cada Lani? We’re very sorry but your mother...”  
“The driver was drunk”  
“Ran the red light”  
“Died after impact”  
“Bled out, no survivors”  
“We’re very sorry”  
“Very sorry”  
“Sorry”

“Cada? You trailed off.” Cada blinked to see five concerned faces staring at her. “I'm sorry, I just got distracted. Now, back to the plan, with everyone down at the parade, we can pack our stuff and haul ourselves out of the school, through the back roads, and out into the suburbs to my old house. I've got a few things I need to get. My mother left everything to me, including with some very helpful assets” Cada explained while trying to shake the memory of her mother's death from the forefront of her mind. 

“Why did your mother leave you her assets, did she leave you?” Jazz asked quizzically. “No, Jazz. She died when I was 13, and even though all her things were left to me, including her money, and my father's who is assumed dead, I got sent to this school by the Ministry. I just hope what I'm doing will make her proud of me” Cada explained, looking down at her hands, trying not to cry at the painful memories. Ironhide, who was sitting closest to Cada, placed his arm around her neck and pulled her close to him. “It'll be ok, Squishy. You've got us and I'm sure your female creator is very proud of who you became.” Cada smiled up at ‘Hide, touched by his words. The rest of the group nodded their agreement of Ironhide's statement. 

“Thanks guys” Cada mumbled once ‘Hide let her go. “Anyway, once we reach my house, we can plan from there, but first, we need to do some research to find your friends. Ratchet, can you give me an approximate timeframe of when they would have made impact?” Cada asked while pulling out her laptop and turning it on. “I suspect they hit the earth's surface sometime between the tenth and twelfth solar cycle” Ratchet answered. Cada flicked her eyes up at him before entering her password. “You mean sometime between the tenth and twelfth of March, right?” She asked as she turned a VPN and opened her browser in incognito mode. “Correct” Ratchet answered. 

Cada nodded and began to type into the Google search bar before erasing it and staring at the screen, puzzled. ‘How do I search for something like this? Maybe…’ her thou's trailed off as she began to type again. She opened the NASA home page and selected the News link. Skimming through the various articles, she looked for anything relating to asteroids landing in the previous six days. Nothing. Cada sighed, frustrated with the lack of helpful information. 

‘Asteroid landing + 10-12 March’ was the next thing Cada tried to type into her search bar. Optimus looked over shoulder, unknowingly bringing his face so close to Cada's that she had to hold her breath. She clicked the first article, from website called “spaceactivity.org, how original” she snorted. Cada felt Optimus huff an amused breath out his nose onto her shoulder. ‘No pervy thoughts, no pervy thoughts’ Cada thought to herself in a mantra. Reading the article brought a grin to Cada's face. She'd found exactly what she had needed. “Four asteroids, empty metal pods, no trace of any life forms in the pods, energon signals detected on the pods… Bingo! This has to be them” Cada read aloud. She scrolled down to find a picture. A picture of the exact same pods the group she was currently with had arrived in. “Optimus, do you think this is them, cause I really do” she asked turning to the prime, only to misjudge how close to her face he was. Their noses brushed and they shot backwards, Cada blushing furiously and Optimus clearing his throat before apologising. “I do believe this could be our comrades. Autobots we must follow on with Cada's plan, she knows this place best and can help us. Cada does it say where they landed?” Optimus announced. “It says they crashed down in Hunua, specifically the Hunua Falls Reserve, wow, these guys are really open, like why give away exactly where they are?” Cada asked distractedly. “How far is the Reserve from here?” Optimus asked. “According to google maps? Exactly four hours… That's not too bad of a drive, assuming there's minimal traffic, and good driving conditions” she answered. 

Before Optimus could say anything else, a knock sounded on the door. All heads stared at the door before swivelling back to look at Cada. Her eyes shot to the time on her laptop. 8:39 pm, Katy was early. “Shit, she's early, I had to invite Katy and Jamison to hang out otherwise she’d tattle that I had you guys here. I think she was bluffing but better not take the risk” Cada explained as she shutdown her tabs on her computer and tried to make everything look natural… Well as natural as she could. Smoothing her shirt, she opened the door to find a grinning Katy with a backpack on and a straight faced Jamison with an armload of what looked like junk food and DVDs. ‘People still own those’ she noted distractedly. “You're early” she stated a little more bluntly than she had meant to. Katy merely smiled and nodded. “Yep, but we wanted to do a movie night maybe. So I brought my dvd player and some snacks with movies. You have a T.V right?” Katy asked. “I don't.” Cada answered. “That's fine,” she said absently, “I'll just go grab my monitor from my room, old school right?” She said with an air of bubbly cheerfulness. Cada merely nodded while gesturing for her “guests” to come in. Cada handed Katy the pants that had been borrowed the night before as she was closest. Katy placed her bag on the ground and headed for the door. “I’m gonna go grab that monitor and put these pants back in your room babe, I'll be back soon” she smiled charmingly and skipped out of the room. Literally skipped. 

She turned to Jamison and the rest of the group and realised she had a major dilemma. How was she going to introduce themselves? She couldn't give their real names, it would be a dead giveaway. “So, I'm Jamison, but everyone can just call me James. What are your guy's names?” Jamison decided to break the ice. Optimus looked to Cada with wide eyes, obviously suffering the same problem. Cada and Optimus were saved from answering by Katy frolicking back into the room, a huge monitor in her arms as if it weighed nothing. To her it probably didn't weigh anything. Katy set the monitor on a cleared part of Cada's desk before turning to Cada and smiled charmingly. “Introductions?” She asked. 

Cada had to think, fast. Looking around the room at the group gathered, she spied her family book sitting next to Optimus… wait. Optimus. Her eyes swung to his and she raised a brow, waiting to see if he would have an answer. Turns out he did. “My name is Orion, this is Brett, whom you met last night. Next to Brett with the dark hair is Jaxon, and this is Hyde and Raj. It is a pleasure to meet you Katy and Jamison” Optimus said confidently, standing up and approaching Katy and Jamison with his hand outstretched, obviously wanting to shake hands. Katy and Jamison shook his hand before Jamison said “hey Orion, just call me James, it's great to meet you too.” 

The group settled in to watch the slew of old DVDs from over 900 years ago, movies that Cada had never even heard of. Movies called ‘Brave’ that told tales of a Scottish princess who fought for her own freedom, and knee slapping comedies like ‘Regular Show’. Time passed quickly and soon everyone struggled to keep their eyes open. Cada looked around the room to see that Ratchet and ‘Hide had fallen asleep curled up on the bean bag again, but this time, Bumblebee had fallen asleep curled behind Ratchet, who was curled into Ironhide's front. Ironhide had wrapped his arm around the both of them as best as he could. Jazz seemed to be battling sleep on the end of the bed, his head drooping then picking up every so often. James and Katy were cuddled under a blanket on one of Cada's other bean bags. James was asleep while Katy made eye contact with Cada. She glanced to Cada's left and back to her, smirking. Optimus sat wide awake to Cada's left on the bed on top of the blankets. Katy yawned before announcing, “well, I'll turn the movie player off when the movie finishes, so don't stay awake on our account” and throwing a wink at Cada. 

Cada's face burned in embarrassment while she curled up under her blanket and faced the other way. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore that it was Optimus freaking Prime next to her on her her bed… It seemed that that particular fact was not going to be processed properly anytime soon. 

She shifted for several minutes, unable to fully relax. By this time Optimus had crawled under the blanket next to Cada and that certainly was not helping. She shifted her legs and her foot came into contact with the Primes leg. Both her and Optimus jolted and Cada bolted up straight into a sitting position. Jazz jolted back up again from where he had rested his head on his hands. She turned an accusing gaze to the Prime and announced rather loudly, “you aren't even wearing your pajamas. Those are still jeans on your legs. In fact, are any of you wearing pajamas?” Optimus sat staring wide eyed at the girl and Jazz swung around to look at her with amusement in his stare. “Is it really necessary that I put on the pajamas right now” Optimus asked, seemingly ready to try going to sleep again. Cada just looked at him, though this time her look seemed to get darker. Wordlessly, the Prime shuffled out of the bed and started to ruffle through the bags of clothes, looking for his pajamas. Jazz followed his lead and woke the others only to find they had already changed their clothes. When and where, he didn't know but left the three to sleep. 

Once Optimus and jazz had emerged from the bathroom with pajamas on, the three had crawled into the bed and Cada tried again to fall to sleep. Again, she kept on shifting until an arm draped over her waist and she froze dead still. “I apologise, but I cannot sleep with you constantly moving… Am I making you uncomfortable” Optimus mumbled in her ear after realising she was still very stiff. Cada silently shook her head and forced herself to relax under his arm. “Sorry about the shuffling, I'm not used to other people sleeping in my bed” Cada used as a slightly untrue response. Sure, she wasn't used to people sleeping in her bed, but that wasn't why she was squirming. He merely huffed out a breath of air through his nose that tickled her neck before falling silent again. 

Cada had almost drifted off when she heard Katy stand up to turn the movie off. Once Katy and settled back down beside James again, Cada allows herself to give into the lull of slumber. 

***

Cada awoke to giggling and the feeling of her face being squished into something very solid the next morning. Rather than wake up fully, Cada merely scrunched her face and tried to bury face deeper into the warmth it was buried in. Only to realise with some mortification that this warm place was breathing and had a heartbeat. She rolled backwards violently, only to find herself tangled in a pair of arms that had locked tight around her. She looked up to see Optimus’ eyes wide and searching the room as if assessing for danger. He relaxed when all he noticed was Jazz and Katy sitting on the end of the bed, watching the two who just had woken. Cada tapped on Optimus’ arms that were still wrapped securely around her. He looked at Cada and instantly released her, scratching his neck and offering an apology. Cada simply waved it off and flopped back down onto her pillow. “It's too early to be alive, you guys fend for yourselves for a while” she mumbled before trying to fall back into slumber. 

Katy laughed at the display and drawled “well James and I are gonna head back to our room, we've got church to attend today, by the way, we'll see you at the town parade on Tuesday won't we?” Cada merely raised a thumbs up in her direction before rolling over and dragging the blankets over her head. Katy laughed again and gathered herself and James plus their stuff and left the room. 

The room was silent for a few minutes before Cada decided to open her eyes. She didn't trust the silence with Jazz around. He was way too mischievous. She saw Optimus sitting on the bed reading again, it was her family book. Jazz was simply staring at Cada with a look that Cada couldn't decipher. She raised her brow at him before shaking her head. She noticed that ‘Bee, Ratchet and ‘Hide had slept in the same position all night and continued to stay in the same position then. She smiled fondly at them before crawling out of bed. She stumbled to the bathroom and closed the door. 

Once the door was shut, Jazz practically pounced on Optimus. He merely raised an eyebrow at the lieutenants actions. Jazz grinned at him and settled beside Optimus. “So, you and Cada seemed very close this morning” Jazz slyly mentioned, not even bothering to try and hide the fact that he was snooping. Optimus pointedly brought the book closer to his face, very obviously blocking Jazz out. Jazz merely shook his head and let the subject drop already realising it was a lost cause. 

The bathroom door opened and Cada walked out, looking much more awake and put together. She looked to Jazz on the bed and mumbled at him “that's my spot, scooch” while shooing him with her hands. Jazz grinned and moved out of her way and settled on the middle of the bed again. Cada opened another book and the three sat silently while they waited for the other three to wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooooo, a shirt chapter, I know, it's mainly a filler before we get into the good part, THE ESCAPE! Please please please don't give up on me yet guys, we're near.y there. Thanks to all you readers.


	7. Part Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this another short one, I've just been super busy with school. A lovely comment left on the last chapter by 'Sounders' motivated me to write the next chapter (part 8) which I'm doing now. Hope you enjoy this short one, filler is filler.

Cada woke up on Tuesday feeling like she had not had any sleep the night before. Today was The Day. The day she and the autobots would be escaping. It was also the day of the Easter Parade. She turned on her side to look at Bee who had chosen to sleep beside her the night before. His eyes were closed and his mouth open a little, deep asleep. 

Cada turned her head to look at her bedside table. Her alarm clock displayed 6:57 in bright red numbers causing her to let out a breath of mild frustration. The group weren't planning on leaving until around 10 am as the parade started at 9:30 so they could easily slip through the large crowds without being caught. Hopefully. 

Cada's thoughts turned toward the night they spent with Katy and James. It had been so long since she'd actually watched a DVD. When the biggest of the radiation waves hit the earth in the year 2763, everything was wiped out. Buildings, technology, animals, people. The only survivors were those who moved to the scarce amount of underground bunkers that became colonies and a small amount of the earth plant life. When the radiation began in the year 2759, some of the richer humans built underground bunkers that extended for miles and connected to other bunkers in order to have safe houses. When scientists noticed that the waves were building and a big wave was coming, as many people as possible were squeezed into the bunkers, but by the time that wave had come, people had already mutated and developed abilities. Those who didn't have any mutations were merely bred out over time, due to mutations being a dominant gene. After the radiation levels came back down in July of 2899, the human race had become completely mutated, but so had the world above them. Plant life had grown resistance to radiation, natural resources like water had finally become safe to be used again and the earth had looked like it used to before deforestation and land development by humans had occurred. 

In 119 years, earth had been transformed to what it is now. Advanced technology, better environmental resources, and more environmental care and awareness. After the disaster of the radiation waves, the population became very concerned with their treatment of the earth which has led to stricter laws of management. When old technology is found, like DVDs and DVD players, people pay pretty high prices for the antiques. Instead of things like that though, these days, computers and USBs are used for home entertainment. For Cada to see a working DVD player with working movies was very lucky considering most of that stuff was destroyed in the Waves. 

Cada was dragged from her thoughts when she heard Ironhide stand up and go to the bathroom. She gently pulled herself out of bed and began to find some of the food she had brought and hidden in her room when they went out on Saturday. Hearing the bathroom door open, Cada turned and shot a small smile to ‘Hide before whispering “hey, you hungry?” He smiled back at her and nodded. “I'll get everybody up, we need to get ready to go” he said before proceeding to wake the rest of the group. 

Once everyone had eaten, they all sat in silence while waiting for the clock to click to 9:00. The group moved as silent as possible once the time had come. One at a time, the autobots plus Cada hauled themselves out the window and down onto the grass. Cada checked that the coast was clear and then the group moved out. 

But of course their escape couldn't go without any faults. As the group turned a corner into an alley that would lead them to the back streets, the group ran into trouble in the form of a throat clearing in front of them. There stood Katy and James, arms crossed and frowns on their faces. Cada stood at the front of the group and realised that ‘oh god, they were so dead’. “What's with the bags?” Katy asked. Cada realised that they looked so suspicious and that it was going to be hard to get out of this one. Before she could get a response out to Katy, James spoke. “You're leaving aren't you? You're _actually_ leaving”, and all Cada could do was nod silently, hoping they wouldn't try to stop her. James merely sighed and he and Katy moved to the side of alley. Cada stared in shock at the two of them. Katy then approached Cada and threw her arms around her tightly. “Please be safe” she whispered. Cada nodded and returned her hug before the group were on their way again. 

It took another ten minutes for the group to reach Cada's old home. As Cada stood at the driveway she could only stare at the house in deep thoughts. She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and walked up to the front door. Pulling out her key, she opened the lock and swung the door open. A layer of dust coated everything in sight. Cada didn't linger to look at anything, she walked straight through the house to the door that lead to the garage, to where the car sat, untouched after four years of being undriven. She ran her hand over the grey paint, covered in dust and sighed quietly. The autobots did not make a sound, leaving Cada to swim in her thoughts. 

She unlocked the car and threw her bags into the boot, encouraging the others to do the same. She turned and opened the garage door before returning to the car and easing it out into the driveway. The engine sounded fine, apart from a slight hiccup at the beginning, most likely from not being used in a few years. After locking up the house again, Cada returned to drivers seat and clipped her seatbelt into place. She started up her home, before turning to Optimus who sat in the passenger seat. They nodded to each other before she eased the car out of the driveway and down the road. 

Once out of the town and on the open road, Cada began to relax and drive a little faster. Her lessons from her mother and the few she got from the school coming back to her with ease. “Well boys, we have four hours of driving ahead of us, how about some music” Cada said before flipping on the radio. Relaxing into the seat, Cada drove the car and everyone listened to the music.


	8. Part 8

For the first hour, the ride was silent. Everybody's nerves were on the edge. They wanted to get as far as they could before they were noticed so the only sound in the car was the quietly playing radio. 

Cada flicked her eyes to the rear vision mirror before darting her eyes back to the road, her grasp tightening marginally on the steering wheel. It had been half an hour since they'd left town, a whole hour since they left the academy. Cada was waiting for the sirens to start up behind them, the police coming to drag her back to the academy and then Optimus and the Autobots would be taken away. She'd only known them in reality for a few days but the thought of them being taken away filled her with dread. Thanks to her book, she'd felt as though she had known the bots her entire life, and losing them at the beginning of this adventure had her stomach churn. Taking a deep breath, Cada directed her thoughts in other directions, more toward the silent statue-like man sitting in the passenger seat. Optimus had not spoken since they left the house. His brow furrowed and Cada couldn't read his face, she wondered what he was thinking. ‘Gosh even when in silent thought he's hot….. NO CADA, STOP THIRSTING!’. Cada forced her brought in another direction… Again. 

Optimus sat in contemplation. He knew they were making good time and were incredibly lucky for the plan to get this far but his mind continued to run itself ragged over the same thing. What if they were too late? What if their comrades are lost somewhere on earth, stranded with no knowledge of how to survive a world like this or how to navigate the people? What will happen if they're too late to stop the human governments getting to them first? He huffed a breath of frustration and watched unseeingly out the window. As far as scenery went, the view he was seeing as quite lovely. Then again, Earth always had lovely views, it was the inhabitants that brought the trouble. His last experience with the humans was not particularly pleasant, considering he and his people were condemned from the planet and told should they ever return again, they would face deactivation by military forces. optimus' gaze flicked to Cada. Why was she helping them? He understood that Cada was a direct descendant of one of their human allies from before they were exiled but why was Cada sympathetic toward hem? Her society would have raised her to report the Cybertronians immediately, not aid them in their quest to find more of them. The thought of their human allies caused Optimus' heart too twinge. How he missed them. Mikaela, Sam, Lennox, even Seymour Simmons. 'Human lives are so short' he thought sadly. 

Quiet humming from the backseat drew Optimus' attention to Bumblebee and the others. Ironhide and Ratchet sat with their hands linked, Ratchet looking out the window and Ironhide resting his head on his Bondeds shoulder. Bumblebee and Jazz were squished into the last remaining backset, Bee humming along to a song on the radio and Jazz looking like he would rather be anywhere other than squished up next to Bee. 

Cada noticed Bee's humming and turned the radio up a little more so the music was easier to hear and looked at the time displayed on the dashboard 10:36 am. They were making really good time with everyone being at Easter parades all over the country, but then getting through the major cities or even small towns was going to be a problem. Cada realised she could take state highway 1 and avoid as many towns and settlements as possible, but how to get there? As she drove a little further, she noticed a road sign pointing out State Highway 1, but she would have to go through the major city to get to it. 'Fuck it' she thought and took the turn off. 

***

"Well, now that we're on the main highway, we shouldn't have to worry about hitting any more traffic like that for a while" Cada explained to the occupants of the car. The time on the dashboard now read 12:19 pm. They'd spent close to 2 hours in traffic going through the city of Whangarei and were now very far behind their ideal schedule. Cada looked back to Bee and Jazz who looked about ready to throw themselves out of the window if only to get some space. A glance toward the other two showed Ironhide feeling very similar, if not more ready to throw either himself or the other two out the window. To be fair though, Jazz and Bee's complaining and shoving f each other was getting irritating for Cada too. "Ok guys, if we can get another 30 minutes down this highway I'll find a rest stop we can pull over at so you can stretch your legs and get some space" she announced to the 'Bots. She saw Optimus nod at her decision when she glanced in his direction. A cheer of three voices rose from the back sat followed by the sound of a breathy, "Thank Primus" from Ratchet. 

At the rest stop, Cada had barely put the car in park before seat belts were off and doors were flung open. She chuckled quietly to herself before stepping out of the car and looking around her. The view from the top of the hill showed rolling valleys of light green, grassy paddocks with the odd herd of cows or flock of sheep in them. Cada took a deep breath, enjoying the peace before a violent curse escaped her mouth as she had a moment of sudden realisation. "You guys are gonna hate this but we have to get to the nearest bank as soon as possible. Once they realise I've done a runner, they're going to freeze my account and probably put out an amber alert. That means no gas, no food and no resources for your buddies" The looks she received varied from mild annoyance (Ratchet) to horror (Jazz). Optimus kept his face blank and it unnerved Cada a little. "Everyone, back into your seats" he ordered before getting back into his own seat. 

The nearest town was 10 minutes ahead of them and this one was also unsurprisingly filled with people celebrating. Cada pulled into a car park and told the group to stay put. Upon her return to the car, she found herself wondering "why do I even bother telling them to stay put when not one of them will listen". She looked around, thinking maybe they just walked around the car park to stretch their legs. she couldn't find them anywhere. locking her car with a hefty amount of cash hidden in the boot, she made her way out on the footpath, looking for any familiar faces or clothing. seeing none, she decided to walk them down the street toward the centre of the parade.

A short while later, she saw the backs of two familiar heads, the taller one with dark hair and his arm wrapped around the waist of another shorter male with lighter hair. they were looking at a street stall selling jewellery. Cada cautiously walked closer, caught the low timbre of Ironhide's voice, proceeded to march up and do the unthinkable... she grabbed both Ironhide and Ratchet by the ears and dragged them away while lecturing them about what "Stay Put" means. Neither tried to fight against her, merely followed her with her tirade as she tried to find the rest of the group.   
The sound of two guitars strumming in what seemed like a competitive fashion drew Cadas eyes toward the centre of the crowd and through a gap she saw Jazz, Bee and a group of musicians playing an upbeat tune. Still towing the other two by the arms now, she pushed through the crowd and proceeded to grab Jazz’s arm. He paused in his strumming and sheepishly put the guitar down, nudged Bee who did the same and followed her out of the group, to the crowd's disappointment. ‘Now to find Optimus’ she thought to herself. He took a little longer to find, but he was discovered by the book tore looking through the window. Cada merely cleared her throat and he turned to follow her back to the car. 

Once they were back on the road, Cada continued her lecture. “- Stupid, irresponsible thing to do. You should all know better. What if somebody had discovered who you guys are? Huh, what then? Did any of you think about that?” silence permeated the car. None of them knew what to say.

The ride was silent for 10 minutes until Cada spoke again. “I’m sorry for yelling and lecturing, you guys worried me a lot” mumbled apologies followed her confession and the rest of the ride was ridden in comfortable silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short I know.... I've just been super stressed lately.


	9. NOTICE

Hey Readers,

I'm really sorry but I don't think i will be updating for a while (please keep reading, there's a possibility). I don't know where to take this story next.

If anybody has any ideas or even a prompt, I would try to fill it. I could use it as a way to get my ideas going in a direction. I've kinda lost what my endgame was for this fic.

SO,

CALLING ALL WITH IDEAS. DOESN'T MATTER WHAT IT IS, HIT ME UP IN THE COMMENTS. 

Thank you guys for sticking with me through this,

-Transformers_girl.

**Author's Note:**

> Please please please leave me feedback. What you like, what you don't like etc. Thanksies


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